Many systems for bending workpieces to form a desired configuration have been devised. In such systems, the workpiece is typically driven past a bending station such that the workpiece is formed into the desired configuration beginning at one end and progressing at intervals along the length of the workpiece until the configuration is completed. The bends are thus formed in a time sequence corresponding to the spatial sequence of the bends on the workpiece.
A number of different types of bending tools may be employed at the bending stations of such devices including, for example, brake presses, mandrel and wiper bending tools, and roller arrays, e.g., three or more bending rollers arranged in a pyramid or triangular array. In a brake press, the workpiece is pressed between appropriately shaped dies to form the bend. In mandrel and wiper bending, the wiper is moved so as to cause the workpiece to bend about the mandrel. In roller array systems, at least one of the rollers can ordinarily be moved relative to adjacent rollers so that the curvature of the resulting bend in the workpiece pressed between the rollers can be varied.